Harder Family

Harder Family

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Results

1 Peter 1:6-9 "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Last year during this time, we were in the middle of Wayne's six weeks of radiation and chemo, along with his daily physical, occupational, and speech therapy. In the midst of the storm, it was hard to see the other end. Thankfully, with God's help and strength, we made it through the trial. From the beginning of the journey, Wayne and I said that if only one person's life was impacted for the good through all of this, it would be worth it. We wanted God to get all the glory through the whole process. Little did we know when we said that statement, that one of the people whose life would be impacted would be our own daughter. 

Here is Sophia's testimony that she is giving for her baptism this Sunday at church. It was about two months ago that she walked downstairs to talk to us about some serious questions. It was during this conversation that she communicated to us that she desired to truly surrender her life to Jesus. Here is the course of events that lead her to that decision (in her own words-she wrote her own testimony and I think it is beautiful):

"Hello church. Last year my family and I were eating rice and beans for a month to see what it was like to be an orphan. My dad called from the hospital to tell us he had a seizure and we were scared. He went to the doctor and us kids were getting babysat. On the way home, he told us that he had cancer and I started to cry. My sisters seemed to have something that I didn’t and I wanted what they had. It was a relationship with Jesus. My dad’s cancer changed my life because I saw that I needed Jesus. Just like my dad needed Jesus to heal him of his cancer, I needed Jesus to change me. A few months later when I got saved, Jesus changed my life forever."


Every time she shares her testimony, it brings tears to my eyes. God is so good! Despite all the heartache last year, God has written a beautiful story out of the storm. The one thing that I have learned this year is that God is faithful and He is trustworthy. Even if He had decided to take Wayne from us, it wouldn't change who He is or the beauty in the story that He is weaving. 

I thought I would share this beautiful testimony on the day that we received news from our oncologist that Wayne's MRI was clear! That's right, another clear scan!! As we were leaving the doctor's office, Wayne declared to me, "Well, I guess God still has work for me to do here on earth!!" Yes, yes He does. Now it is our job to allow Him to use us when and where He desires.

Thank you for your continued prayers! 


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